


The Enterprise Incidents

by CatWingsAthena



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: And Morgan's job is keeping his people safe ok, But I needed to fit everyone in, Captain Jason Gideon, Chief Engineer Penelope Garcia, Chief Medical Officer Elle Greenaway, Chief of Security Derek Morgan, Communications Officer Jennifer Jareau, Criminal Minds IN SPACE, First Officer Aaron Hotchner, Gen, Helm David Rossi, Minor Character Death, Navigation Emily Prentiss, Science Officer Spencer Reid, So everyone gets to stay, Team as Family, They have better mental healthcare in the 23rd century, Yes I realize Chief of Security was not a position during TOS, psych evals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWingsAthena/pseuds/CatWingsAthena
Summary: These are the things they don’t tell Admiral Strauss.Or, the BAU as the crew of the starship Enterprise, flying around and dealing with all the bizarre crap the Enterprise crew always has to deal with, as told through a series of psych evals on members of the crew, together with the stories of why they were needed. Lots of team-as-family feels and utterly bizarre episode mashups, mostly between Criminal Minds and TOS.





	The Enterprise Incidents

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody! I hope you like the weird contents of my brain. Just so you know, this work contains discussions of PTSD, brief violence, and discussions of mutiny, if that bothers anyone. Also, a reference to a ship's captain (no one we know) ordering his own ship destroyed, with everything that entails. In addition, I've completely given up on the POV making sense--just assume what you're reading and what Elle's hearing are two different things. Once again, hope you enjoy!
> 
> First chapter summary: When Lieutenant-Commander Sarah Jacobs comes aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise as a transfer, Gideon is pleased to be working with an old friend. That doesn't last. Episode: Star Trek TOS, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", adapted to CM characters.

“Tell me what happened,” said Elle, sitting in a chair opposite Gideon in a small room in a tucked-away corner of Sick Bay.

“You know perfectly well what happened,” said Gideon, looking at her with a can-we-get-this-over-with-already? expression. He’d already been through medical treatment and a physical, and now she had to poke and prod at his mind as well. It was irritating in the extreme. But he knew that, as Captain, he had to set a good example, so he resolved to commence with the story after this, the perfunctory amount of fuss.

“I’m not interested in what you say,” said Elle, “I’m interested in how you say it.”

Gideon took a deep breath. “It started not too long after Sarah came aboard...”

...

When Lieutenant-Commander Sarah Jacobs arrived on the transporter pad of the USS  _ Enterprise _ , she was somewhat disappointed not to see an old friend.

Instead, she was greeted by a woman with tufts of blonde hair and a sideways smile. “Penelope Garcia, Empress of the Engines,” she said brightly, extending her hand for Jacobs to shake.

It surprised Jacobs that the woman—Garcia? Penelope?—hadn’t stated her rank or formal position. Maybe it was a quirk of this woman’s personality—she certainly seemed quirky—or maybe it was just how things were done around here? Still, Jacobs figured she’d better stick with protocol, just in case. “Lieutenant-Commander Sarah Jacobs,” said Jacobs, shaking the woman’s hand.

A moment later, her friend power-walked into the room. “Sarah,” he said, smiling. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Jason,” she replied. “Or should I call you Captain Gideon here?” She smiled playfully.

Gideon smiled back. “Jason’s good unless we’re on the bridge.”

“Duly noted,” said Jacobs.

“Welcome aboard,” Gideon said. “Your first shift starts in two hours. Would you like me to give you the tour, or would you prefer I show you to your quarters now so you have more time to get settled in?”

Jacobs smiled. “Aren’t you busy,  _ Captain? _ ”

“Not too busy for a new recruit,” said Gideon, “or an old friend.”

“I’d hate to take you away from your duties—”

“My First Officer is more than capable of handling the ship on his own for a while,” said Gideon. Then he spoke again, more quietly. “In fact, he’d be captain right now if I hadn’t come back from medical leave.” There was a brief pause, during which time Gideon’s smile returned. “Anyway, what’ll it be?”

“I think I’ll accept that tour,” said Jacobs.

...

“Captain,” called a blonde woman sitting in the Communications Officer’s seat just as Jacobs arrived on the bridge for her shift, “we’re picking up a distress signal. It’s... it’s from the S.S.  _ Valiant _ .” She looked puzzled.

“Recorded?” asked the Captain.

“Yes,” the woman replied.

“Sensors picking up a small object,” said a woman with dark hair sitting in the Navigator’s seat. “Approximately one meter in diameter. Small enough to bring aboard, if you want to risk it.”

“The S.S.  _ Valiant _ went missing two hundred and seventeen years ago,” said a man with longish hair standing at the Science station. “Back then, ejectable ship recorders were about that size. It could be one of those.”

Gideon opened his communicator. “Garcia, lock onto the object,” he said.

“Aye, aye, Captain!” she chirped.

“Morgan, go be there when it beams aboard,” said Gideon.

“Yes, sir,” said the man who’d been standing to the left of the Captain’s chair.

“Hey,” said Jacobs. “I’m Lieutenant-Commander Sarah Jacobs. Who are you?” She wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular—the room was full of strangers and, while she’d already largely guessed who people were from Jason’s glowing description of his crew on their tour, she wanted to hear it from them. Not to mention, she knew the power of ritual to put people at ease.

The blonde woman spoke first. “Jennifer Jareau, Communications Officer—but you can call me JJ.”

The rest of the introductions passed in a blur. She identified the dark-haired Navigation woman as “Emily Prentiss” and the man sitting next to her as “David Rossi, Helm” (She relieved him and sat in his seat, which she hadn’t had the chance to do earlier). The guy at the science station was “Lieutenant-Commander Spencer Reid, I’m the Science Officer” (stating his rank  _ and _ position was a bit overkill, Jacobs thought). The man standing to the right of the Captain’s chair was “Aaron Hotchner, First Officer” (it didn’t escape Jacobs’ notice that the First Officer had chosen to introduce himself last).

A bit later, Morgan reappeared on the bridge. “Recorder’s transmitting to your computer,” he said, looking at Reid. Then he turned to Jacobs. “Derek Morgan, Chief of Security,” he said, extending his hand. Jacobs shook it and introduced herself in turn.

Gideon opened his communicator. “All department heads to Bridge,” he said.

Reid was fiddling around and peering at his screen. “Tapes are burnt out,” he said. “Decoding memory banks... they encountered a magnetic storm,” he muttered. “They were swept out of the galaxy, old impulse engines couldn’t cope... once they finally broke free, they headed back this way and ran into an unknown force... The data’s badly corrupted, I’m not getting everything...”

“Tell me what you do know,” said Gideon.

“The captain was requesting information from the ship’s computer on humans with ESP. He was asking over and over, he seemed like he was panicking about it. And then... no, there’s got to be some mistake...”

“What is it?” asked Gideon.

“The captain just gave the order to destroy his own ship.”

Which was exactly when Garcia stepped off the turbolift and onto the Bridge. “I—I’m sorry,  _ what? _ ” she said.

“The captain of the  _ Valiant _ , the ship that was lost two hundred and seventeen years ago? He gave the order to destroy his own ship,” said Reid.

“Okay,” said Garcia slowly. “Do we know  _ why? _ ”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out by being out here,” said Gideon. “We need to find out what we’re facing so other ships know what’s out here. As soon as Elle gets here, we’re going ahead and leaving the galaxy.”

Whereupon Elle arrived, took in the newcomer on the Bridge, and extended her hand. “Chief Medical Officer Elle Greenaway, call me Elle,” she said.

“Lieutenant-Commander Sarah Jacobs,” Jacobs said, shaking Elle’s hand.

“All right,” said Gideon. “Ahead warp one.”

Soon, they could see a purple-blue band on their viewscreen.

“Force field of some kind,” said Reid. “I’m getting confused readings. Deflectors say there’s something there, sensors say there isn’t. Density, energy, radiation—all negative.”

As they entered the force field, their viewscreen was taken up by nebulous purple light that quickly increased in intensity, becoming pinkish, then the color of fire.

Then, there was a loud crackling noise as the consoles sent up a rain of sparks. Smoke poured up from the controls, and small fires erupted.

“Emergency stations, all decks on fire alert,” called Gideon. “Set controls to manual. Reid, are you getting  _ anything? _ ”

“Nothing,” Reid replied.

“Helm, get us—” Gideon started to say. He was interrupted by a sudden light around him, and collapsed to the ground.

“Get us out of here,” Hotch finished, and the ship began to turn around. Before they could get out of the field, the same light that had surrounded Gideon surrounded Jacobs, and she too collapsed.

Hotch turned on the shipwide comm. “Damage reports, all stations,” he said. After a moment, he rushed over to Gideon, as the entire rest of the bridge had done. 

“I’m fine,” muttered Gideon. “Jacobs?”

Elle hurried over to Jacobs and scanned her with her tricorder. “She’s unconscious, but seems to be all right,” Elle said.

Gideon, who by this time was on his feet, rushed over to Jacobs and knelt beside her. Within a few seconds, she was stirring.

“Sarah,” he said. “Sarah, are you all right?”

“A little woozy,” said Jacobs, “but I’m sure I’ll be fine in a minute...”

With that, she opened her eyes.

They were glowing silver.

...

“What’s the damage?” asked Gideon as he sat with Hotch in a briefing room.

“Main engines are out,” Hotch said. “We’re on emergency power cells. Nine crew, dead.”

Gideon shut his eyes for a split second. “Get JJ on sending the notifications.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What does Garcia need?”

“Dilithium crystals,” said Hotch. “There’s a dilithium mining planet a few light-days from here—Delta Vega. We can get what we need there and Garcia will have us on our way.”

“Inhabited?”

“Not for a long time,” said Hotch. “The mines are fully automated.”

Just then, Gideon’s communicator sounded with Elle’s voice. “Autopsy reports are ready, Captain,” she said.

“What were your findings?” asked Gideon.

“Each of the dead crew members had damage to a specific area of the brain,” said Elle. “Serious damage—like it was burnt out.”

“Let me guess,” said Gideon, “an area that’s been linked to extra-sensory perception?”

“Yes,” said Elle. “One more thing—I’ve gone through the medical records of everyone who died, and they have one thing in common—higher-than-average ESP ratings.”

“Why does that not surprise me,” muttered Gideon.

“There’s one more thing,” said Elle. “I pulled Jacobs’ medical records, and her ESP rating is high too. And—Captain—” Elle paused. “So is yours.”

“If you’ll excuse me,” said Gideon, “I’m going to go check on Sarah.”

...

“If I hadn’t given the order to go through that force field,” said Gideon as he sat in Sick Bay, “those people would still be alive.”

“And the next ship to come out here would have lost people too—maybe their whole crew,” said Elle. “And beyond that, who knows what would have been unleashed on the world. This crew is the best there is, you  _ know _ that. If  _ we _ could barely cope...”

“Those people were my responsibility,” said Gideon.

“I know,” said Elle. “But you did the best you could.”

For a moment, there was quiet.

Elle broke the silence. “When you went to check on Sarah, what did you see?” she asked.

“I saw Sarah,” said Gideon. “But even then, I could tell she was... different...”

...

“Jason,” said Sarah as soon as Gideon walked in the door.

“Sarah,” he replied. “How are you?”

“I feel fine. Better than ever, actually. When do I go back on duty? Your doctor said my readings were perfect.”

“Well, I do have a great deal of faith in her opinion, but we’re not ready to let you get out of here just yet. Not until we understand what happened—and why your eyes are doing that.” He gestured at Sarah’s eyes, still glowing silver.

“Well, if I’m not to be freed from confinement just yet, I’m glad you’re here,” Sarah stated, scooting back in her bed to sit up further. “I’m getting the chance to read some of that dusty old stuff you liked back at the Academy, but it isn’t nearly as nice as talking to you.”

Gideon looked at the screen. “Spinoza, huh?” he said. “I always took you for a more down-to-earth sort.”

“Odd, that description,” said Sarah, “for one who made her career in the stars...”

“I suppose it doesn’t quite fit, anyway,” said Gideon. “You always did manage to surprise me.”

“Well, Spinoza’s very simple once you get into it. Childish, almost. I don’t agree with him at all,” she said.

“Go on,” said Gideon, carefully masking his concern. The way she was talking... it wasn’t Sarah. And calling Spinoza  _ childish _ ...

Sarah gave him a sideways look. “Really, I’m all right,” she said. “The way everybody’s hovering, you’d think you all  _ want _ me to be sick. Maybe if I could just change these dials...”

Sarah looked at the biobed monitor, and the readings spiked. Then, they dipped back to normal.

Gideon looked at Sarah. “How are you doing this?”

“I—I don’t know,” she said. “I just think about it happening, and it does. There’s more, too. I’ve gone through half the ship’s library in a day. I don’t know what’s happening... but I like it.”

“How much of what you read do you remember?” asked Gideon.

“All of it,” said Sarah. “Try any tape.”

Gideon held out a tape and put it into the machine. “Page two sixty-one,” he said.

“It’s a picture of a mockingbird,” said Sarah. “Caption:  _ Mimus polyglottos, _ the Northern Mockingbird, is the only species of mockingbird commonly found in North America. A slender bird with a long tail, it has a grey back and lighter belly with white wing patches, which it sometimes displays when alarmed. Mimics the songs of many other birds, as well as human sounds... ugh, this is  _ boring. _ ” She handed Gideon another tape. “Page three eighty-seven,” she said, and Gideon put it in the reader.

“My love has wings,” recited Sarah. “Slender, feathered things with grace in upswept curve and tapered tip.  _ The Nightingale Woman, _ Phineas Tarbolde.”

Gideon came back around to the side of Sarah’s bed, and she grasped his hand and held it close.

“Sarah,” said Gideon sadly. “Before you came on board, we agreed that we weren’t—that we wouldn’t—there are  _ rules _ —”

“Why should we care about the rules?” asked Sarah, without letting go of Gideon’s hand. He made no move to pull it away. “How do you feel,  _ Captain? _ ” Her voice had an edge it had never had before.

“I feel fine,” said Gideon, who had an idea where this was going.

“You know what I’m talking about,” said Sarah.

“I fell,” said Gideon. “Nothing happened.”

“Are you sure?” asked Sarah, pulling him down farther. “Are you  _ sure? _ ”

Just then, Elle walked in. “Okay,” she said.

Gideon straightened up and pulled his hand away. Then he opened his communicator. “Reid, get down here,” he said. He looked at Sarah apologetically. Then he closed his communicator and left the room. Elle followed. “I want a full range of examinations and tests run,” said Gideon to Elle. “Reid will help. Tell him I want him testing for intelligence, psychic ability, things we know of, things we don’t. You run every medical test in the book. And keep a twenty-four hour watch on Sick Bay. I don’t want her getting out of there unnoticed.”

“Understood,” said Elle.

...

“Captain,” said Hotch, “These reports from Elle and Reid are... troubling, to say the least.”

“So she’s disturbingly smart, she remembers everything she reads, and she can do strange things with her brain,” said Gideon. “Should we consider Reid a threat?”

“You know perfectly well it goes far beyond that, Captain,” said Hotch.

Gideon sighed. “Yes, I know. I just...” He looked at Hotch. “We have a watch on Sick Bay. She’s not getting out of there without us knowing about it. Until such a time as Sarah Jacobs presents a clear and obvious threat to the safety of this ship, we will continue to monitor the situation and do nothing further. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly,” said Hotch.

...

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called this meeting,” said Hotch, looking around the table. All of the senior officers were present, except Gideon, Elle (who was keeping a watchful eye on her patient), and Garcia (who was keeping the broken engines crawling along). “I’m sure that those of you who’ve interacted with her have noticed that Jacobs is behaving strangely. She’s developing abilities beyond our comprehension. But that’s not all. Her personality is changing. She’s becoming cold, arrogant. Reid, tell them what you told me.”

“Her intelligence is beyond anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Reid. “She’s reading faster than  _ I  _ can.  _ Much  _ faster. And she’s developed an eidetic memory—there’s no evidence in her file that she had one before. She’s demonstrated telekinesis, the ability to control autonomic reflexes, and we don’t know what else, because she stopped cooperating with my tests halfway through.”

“Not too long ago,” said Rossi, “the bridge controls started going haywire. Readings changing, levers moving by themselves, and so on. I looked over at the screen, and I saw her  _ smiling _ every time it happened.”

“In my opinion,” said Hotch, “she no longer sees us, ordinary humans, as her equals, and she’s acting accordingly. But that’s not our only problem. Did you all see the sparks around her when we flew through the cloud?”

Nods around the table.

“Did you see them around the Captain too?”

“What are you implying?” Prentiss asked.

“Elle told me that all the dead crew and Jacobs have one thing in common—a higher-than-average ESP rating. She also stated that the Captain has one too. We need to be prepared if he starts developing the same symptoms—which is why I called this meeting without him,” Hotch replied.

“Wait,” said Reid. “Are you talking about  _ mutiny? _ ”

“I’m talking about monitoring the situation carefully to determine if further action needs to be taken,” said Hotch.

“Let’s call it what it is,” said Morgan. “The Captain hasn’t given us any indication so far that he needs to be removed from duty. But if he does—Hotch is right. Mutiny might become our only option.” He looked around at the assembled senior officers. “The way I see it, we got two options for what to do about Jacobs. We could get her off this ship—when we arrive on Delta Vega, we could just leave her. Or...”

“You can’t be serious,” JJ interrupted.

Morgan took a deep breath. “I don’t like it any more than you do. But sooner or later—and my guess is sooner—she’s gonna be too powerful for us to do anything about it if she decides she doesn’t want us around. And she  _ will _ . It’s already starting. She’s interested in the Captain and no one else. I went in and tried to talk to her, and she ignored me completely. I’m telling you, she’s a risk to this ship, and I don’t need to tell any of you it’s my  _ job _ to assess risks to this ship.”

“You’re talking about killing someone who hasn’t even done anything wrong!” JJ asserted.

“If we can go the less extreme route, let’s do it,” said Prentiss. “Let’s try to make it to Delta Vega. But we have to tell the Captain. It’ll be his call whether to maroon her, unless he’s so obviously compromised by then that we  _ have _ to stage a mutiny.”

“The problem with that is that then he’d know the plan if that did happen,” said Rossi.

“He might know it anyway,” said Reid. “At the rate Jacobs’ powers are evolving, I wouldn’t be surprised if she—and maybe the Captain, if Hotch’s theory is correct—developed telepathy. But we might not have to give up yet,” he continued. “What if we could cure her? The Captain too, if he has it? Elle has a sample of Jacobs’ blood, as well as her brain scans. If she can isolate what’s gone awry and fix it, maybe we won’t have to maroon or kill anybody. Or mutiny.” Reid looked around, squeezing his interlaced fingers together.

“Okay,” said Morgan. “Tell Elle she has until we get to Delta Vega to find that cure. And get that brain of yours on that too—I know you can help.”

“I will,” said Reid, and immediately headed for Sick Bay.

...

“Captain,” said Morgan, sitting in a briefing room with Hotch and Gideon, “what’s it gonna be?”

He had just advised Gideon to maroon Sarah—and apprised him of the backup plan of killing her if she became too dangerous. While he was careful to make it seem like his idea alone (with Hotch backing him up) so as not to reveal their prior meeting, he wasn’t sure if Gideon had guessed, and suspected he had. Their captain was hard to fool.

There was a long silence.

“Once we get to Delta Vega,” said Gideon, “get Jacobs from Sick Bay. Get her down to the planet. Sedate her, if you have to. Put her in a force-field holding cell. Have Engineering fix the ship as fast as they can and get out of here.”

“Yes, sir,” said Morgan and Hotch at the same time.

...

“So then what happened?” asked Elle.

“We beamed down to the planet,” said Gideon. “Me, Hotchner, Morgan, and Sarah. Sarah was unconscious—but not for long. We got her in a cell before she woke up, but...”

“Go on...”

“She got out,” said Gideon. “She killed Rowland. I’d put him on a destruct switch to blow up the whole valley in case Sarah got out, but she killed him before he could hit the button. She shocked Hotch and Morgan, and they were unconscious. But they were alive, and I realized I knew they were alive, I could  _ feel _ it... and that’s when I knew.”

“You knew you had the same power.”

“Yes.”

“What did you do then?” asked Elle.

“I would have killed her,” said Gideon. “But I knew I couldn’t. She was stronger than me. So I tested her. I thought,  _ can you hear me? _ And... she couldn’t.”

“Your power gave you immunity from her telepathy.”

“Yes,” said Gideon. “It must have. And I thought, maybe, just maybe, I could kill her if I had help.” He paused. “I still cared about her. But her safety stopped being my concern the minute she hurt my crew.”

“I understand,” said Elle. “That just means you’re a good captain.”

“I had to give you time to find us,” he said. “And I had to lead her away from Hotch and Morgan. I couldn’t risk her hurting them more. So... when she led me away, I went with her.”

...

“Got it!” called Elle across Sick Bay at Reid.

“Really?” he asked, rushing over to look at her screen. “Yeah, I think that would work!... but it’s untested.”

“No time,” said Elle. “let’s synthesize it and beam down.”

...

When Elle and Reid arrived on the planet’s surface, the first thing they saw was the unconscious bodies of Hotch and Morgan.

They ran to them, and Elle gave them each a stimulant.

“She got out,” said Morgan. “Where’s the Captain?”

“We were hoping you knew,” said Reid.

Elle held out her tricorder. “I’m getting two life signs a hundred fifty meters east,” she said. “Both are... too perfect, if that makes any sense.”

Hotch shut his eyes. “This is one of those times I was really hoping to be wrong.”

“So what do we do now?” asked Morgan.

“Actually,” said Reid, “I have an idea.”

...

“Captain,” Reid said, holding out his hands to show that he wasn’t holding a weapon (although his phaser was tucked into his belt), “It’s me, it’s Lieutenant-Commander Spencer Reid. I’m your Science Officer. I like old movies and magic and learning as much as I can. You  _ know _ me, and you’re not gonna hurt me.”

“No,” said Gideon, “I’m not.”

“Then listen to me. You  _ know _ this is wrong. You studied psychology as part of your Command training—you know what human beings are capable of, what we keep inside and don’t talk about and never, ever let out. She can let all those impulses to the surface, why wouldn’t she? She’s answerable to nothing and no one. You’re familiar with the psychological ramifications of absolute power—and no one’s ever had power like she has before, so multiply that times ten, times a hundred. The consequences could be disastrous. Who says she’ll stay on this planet? At the rate things are progressing, she could find a way off-world on her own—or she could wait until the next ore ship comes through in fourteen years and get a free ride, probably kill everyone on the ship while she was at it. She’s killed before, and given the chance she’ll kill again. Human life means nothing to her; I’m as far removed from her as I am from a mouse. And you? You think she’ll be interested in you forever? Your power is weaker than hers, your initial ESP rating was lower. She’ll tire of a weaker companion, and when she does... you won’t stand a chance.”

Just then, Gideon felt a hypospray on his neck. He winced as the medicine entered his system. Elle stepped out from behind him, hypo in hand, and gave Reid a thumbs-up. Reid smiled weakly.

“You know...” Gideon said, rubbing his neck, “I was just playing along with her... right?”

“Oh,” said Reid.

“ _ Sure, _ ” said Elle.

“And you do realize I was the only person who stood a chance against her?” asked Gideon.

Reid made an  _ oh, crap! _ face. Elle held up her phaser.

Just then, Hotch and Morgan joined them.

“Phasers set to kill?” asked Gideon grimly. “I highly doubt Stun will work.”

Everyone nodded.

“I know your thoughts,” called Sarah. “You cannot hide from me. You cannot kill me. You will be wiped off this planet like the pests you are.”

Reid held up another hypo. “We have the cure,” he whispered.

Gideon shook his head. “No way we get close enough,” he said. “Distraction won’t work on a telepath. You get the chance, fire and keep firing until she’s gone.”

He gestured upward, and the others climbed the rock walls of the canyon—Reid and Morgan on one side, Elle and Hotch on the other.

Then, he faced the entrance to the canyon and took a deep breath.

“Come prove you’re a god, Sarah,” he shouted. “Phasers can’t hurt you. Are you scared? Scared of a mere human invention? Come out here and prove your superiority. Kill us and be done with it!”

For a tense moment, there was silence. Then, footsteps.

“I’m so disappointed,” shouted Sarah. “I’d really thought you could keep up with me. Now look at you. You’re one of  _ them _ now. So—”

Sarah stepped into view, and everyone began firing at once. Sarah threw back her head, laughed, and shot electricity at Gideon, who collapsed to the ground.

A second later, Sarah followed suit.

Everyone kept up their fire until her body vanished. Then they slid down the rock walls into the canyon and crouched next to Gideon’s unconscious form.

Elle flipped open her communicator. “Five to beam up,” she said.

...

“So,” asked Elle, “were you  _ really _ just playing along?”

“There’s only one God,” said Gideon. “Sarah wanted to be one, and she wanted me to believe I could be one too. I knew that had to be wrong.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’,” said Elle.

Gideon sighed. “I was tempted. I was  _ sorely _ tempted. You... you can’t possibly know what it felt like...”

“That’s true,” said Elle, “but I have a fair grasp on human nature, and I can say with fair certainty that most people wouldn’t have had the strength to turn down the offer you got. You did. That says something about you.”

“I’ll never really know if I would have,” said Gideon. “You cured me.”

Elle smiled. “You really think I don’t know you let me?”

Gideon blinked.

“Reid was a good distraction, I’ll give him that, but I’m pretty sure you were telepathic. You  _ had _ to have known I was coming up behind you, and what I had in mind, but you didn’t do anything.”

Gideon was quiet for a moment. “I was afraid... that if I tried to stop you, I’d hurt you.”

Elle nodded. Then, gently, she spoke again. “You gave an order to kill your oldest friend. How are you doing with that?”

Gideon bit back an answer that would’ve involved profanity and probably not resulted in the best outcome on his eval. Instead, he said, “it was necessary.”

“That’s not what I asked,” said Elle.

Gideon sighed. “What do you want from me?”

“The truth,” said Elle.

“The truth is... I keep seeing her face,” said Gideon. “I keep playing all the memories in my head, memories of when things were good. I keep wondering if there was anything we could’ve done differently, any way I could have talked her down, if I shouldn’t have given up so soon. I just...” Gideon broke off and slumped to the side in his chair.

“That’s all very normal after experiencing a trauma,” said Elle. “And this  _ was _ a trauma, so don’t argue with me. Now, I know you’ve been in treatment for post-traumatic stress before, so you already know this, but to recap, modern medicine can help with fear associated with PTSD, but there’s very little we can do about shame—it’s too complex. The best thing for it is counseling. Unfortunately, we don’t have a counselor aboard, so if there’s anyone you can talk to, you should talk to them. Otherwise, whenever I’m not in the middle of a crisis, you can come talk to me.”

“So, did I pass my eval?” asked Gideon, standing up.

“Yes,” Elle replied, standing in turn. “You’re cleared for duty. I’m sure Hotch will relinquish the Captain’s chair if you ask nicely,” she said with a smirk.

Gideon smiled. “Thank you.”

“For my medical opinion? You’re welcome.”

“And for... the other things.”

Elle paused at the door. “Of course.”

Gideon walked out of the room after Elle and headed up to the Bridge.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Thanks for reading! Please let me know below if you liked it!


End file.
